Mangaluru: Mangala Alumni Association (MAA) of Mangalore University has urged the State government to release grants for the payment of pension and other retirement benefits for the retired teaching and non -teaching faculties of the university.
There are 30 teaching and non-teaching faculties who retired in the last one and half years and failed to get pension and retirement benefits. As a result, they are in distress, said MAA Honorary President Dinesh Kumar Alva to mediapersons.
“These teachers and non teaching faculties have rendered over 30 years of service in the University and failed to get any retirement benefits. The financial crunch in Mangalore University has affected the payment of pension. It is the responsibility of the government and the Mangalore University to ensure that the faculties get due benefits after retirement,” he noted.
“The MAA has already brought the issue to the notice of Mangalore University Vice Chancellor Prof P L Dharma, Assembly Speaker U T Khader, Minister for Higher Education Dr Sudhakar, and higher education department senior officials. An appeal in this regard has already been sent to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Governor Thaawarchand Ghelot. The MAA representatives will shortly meet the CM to impress upon him to release the grant.”
An average retirement benefit of Rs 70 lakh per faculty is pending to be paid. The faculties are eligible for retirement benefits like gratuity, commuted value of pension, leave encashment, he said.
About Rs 23 crore is pending to be paid for the pensioners. Though the University has submitted a proposal for Rs 33 crore for paying pension and pension benefits for the retired employees. However, the state government has released only Rs 10 crore, Alva said.
With the decline in admissions, the revenue of the university has also reduced, he added.
Prof K S Jayappa, a retired professor of Marine Geology department said “of 30 retired faculties waiting for the benefits, there are a few bed ridden and those who are undergoing dialysis as well. We are all inconvenienced without getting retirement benefits. The last option we have is to approach the court. We will wait for 10 days and then take a call fighting for our rights legally,” he added.
MAA President Prof Sripathi Kalluraya said “the grant from the government has been reduced. Whenever teaching faculties retire, instead of filling the vacancies, the government has asked the university to hire guest teachers whose salaries are paid by the University from internal sources and not by the government, which is also a burden on the university.”